The subject matter herein relates generally to electrical assemblies within connector housings.
New semiconductor products include electronic components that perform various functions, such as measurement sensing, motor control, information processing, information storage, communication, and the like. These electronic components may be embedded into silicon chips that are small enough to fit into tight cavities of devices, such as motors and connectors. These semiconductor products have the ability to transform an ordinary motor, for example, into a “smart” motor with additional functions beyond the traditional function of supplying power. These semiconductor products may also be disposed in the housing of an electrical connector used for connecting electrical devices, such as a motor to a power source and/or controller.
These smart devices consolidate functions traditionally performed by multiple devices into a single structure, which reduces space requirements and costs associated with manufacturing, assembling, and repairing additional devices. However, replacing a smart device, such as a motor, could be more costly than a traditional “dumb” motor due to the extra semiconductor circuitry present in the smart motor. Since motors generally tend to break or die well before the electrical connectors associated with the motors, it may be preferable to install the intelligence (e.g., semiconductors and circuitry) into the housing of an electrical connector instead of into a motor housing. Therefore, a smart electrical connector may be connected to a regular dumb motor, which allows the motor to be replaced while the extra circuitry remains within the connector housing.
Due to the large amount of circuitry that may be packed into a single silicon chip, the performance of some functions generates significant heat. For example, the semiconductor chip may generate heat when switched from “off” to “on,” and/or the reverse, due to a voltage spike known as over shoot and/or under shoot. The generated heat may cause irreversible damage if the temperature exceeds a tolerable threshold. The heat may damage the chip itself, as well as a printed circuit board on which the chip is disposed, neighboring chips on the circuit board, neighboring circuit boards, and other electrical components of the electrical connector. It is important to remove heat so the temperature of the chip stays in the tolerable range below the threshold, especially for products that operate in high ambient temperatures, such as various automotive applications. There are numerous methods in the prior art for passive and active thermal management of electric circuits. However, prior methods do not manage heat in a way that minimizes cost and space, such as to allow for cheap integration into the hardware of a “smart” electrical connector.
A need remains for an electrical assembly with electronic processing components small enough to be located within a connector housing that provides effective thermal dissipation of heat from the electrical assembly without significant added costs and components.